One of the least favorite
criticisms I hear is that a certain movie doesn’t have likable characters. I’m now going to use it as the basis for my argument against How
to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, which places two liars in a courtship and expects
us to find it romantic. I’m
justifying my decision because, in most cases when I hear this comment, the film
in question does not ask us to sympathize with its characters. But this is a romantic comedy; we’re supposed to like these
people. We’re supposed to find their behavior cute and endearing, not odious
and sociopathic. In what
civilization is this kind of behavior romantic? Instead of caring about this couple and hoping they’ll find some way of
working things out and finally getting their stuff together, we try to figure
out who’s the lesser of two evils. Whose
transgression can we look past? Whom
can we force ourselves to identify with? Who
comes out the worse human being by or, more appropriately, despite his or her
actions? The answers may surprise
you.

Andie Anderson (Kate Hudson), a
writer of editorials for the up-and-coming women’s magazine “Composure”
with a name to perfectly go along with her job, is itching to write what she
thinks and believes instead of what her editor (an underused Bebe Neuwirth)
thinks and believes will get people to read. Andie comes to the rescue of one of her friends, who risks her job and,
worse, embarrassment after failing to think of material for the new issue
because of a recent breakup. The
split becomes the impromptu inspiration for Andie’s new article in which she
will explore the ways in which women scare off their potential suitors. To do so, she decides she needs to find a man, start a relationship with
him, and then do all those things that dig under his skin. The victim: Benjamin Barry (Matthew McConaughey), a semi-big-time
advertising professional who, ironically (or lazily, depending on your
perspective), has an alliterative name that starts with the next letter of the
alphabet after Andie’s. Conveniently,
he and Andie meet at a bar—she to find an unknowing casualty, he to get a girl
to fall in love with him to win a bet and get the important new client looking
at his firm.

The premise is flawed at the
core; the execution of the article is pointless. If Andie is writing about the “common” things women do to drive men
away, she doesn’t need to actually go out and do those things to an
unsuspecting man. She could just ask
women and—here’s a concept—men what those things are and why they think it
gets on men’s bad sides. To do
what Andie does is just cruel, really, but it adds that all-important element of
conflict—no matter how desperate the attempt to do so may seem. Then there are her questionable techniques for success. At
one point, Andie takes Benjamin to a couple’s therapist, who is actually the
dumped friend in disguise. The
article should never see the light of day because of this. First, I’m sure there’s some kind of law against that degree of
fraud. Second, what kind of material
can you get from it except falsified and useless. What if such therapy is a valid way of fixing
relationships? Third, I hope her aspirations for legitimate writing aren’t true,
because I don’t want that kind of journalist around.

The guy is also in the wrong. The key difference, though, is that while she is purposely working to
devastate a relationship, he is going above and beyond to keep that relationship
alive. There’s also the problem
with the way in which the bet is made. Benjamin
invades a private meeting to try and convince his boss to give him the big
important account. In any real world
situation, he’d be risking his job or at least be asked to leave immediately
so as not to embarrass anyone—no questions asked. But this is the movie world where the boss simply doesn’t
care. Maybe it’s because I’m a guy or because more people could get hurt by
what she’s doing (she involves his family in her lie), but ultimately, Andie
is worse than Benjamin. There’s
something inherently wrong with a movie that somehow allows Matthew McConaughey
to be more sympathetic than Kate Hudson. Nothing
against McConaughey as an actor (I know he’s capable of fine work), but he’s
creepy as a romantic lead. It’s
the way he eats lobster on their first date and the quality of his voice as
he’s wooing her that make me doubt any sane woman would allow the possibility
of being alone with him.

How
to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
grows more and more tedious as the couple continues to hide their individual
secrets and becomes annoying once things between them (and the movie itself) get
serious and go beyond the bet and the article. The last series of scenes grows worse because it just continues to set up
big scenes where everything could be resolved in the big, dramatic way they’re
going to be resolved anyway, but the movie keeps on going. Hudsonhas an obvious penchant for physical comedy, but the material isn’t funny
enough to warrant anything more than a mild showcase. But we still end up liking McConaughey
more. What a world.